Bryce Larsen : Crossing Genres Into Your Heart

I came across Bryce Larsen a couple days ago. I was reminiscing, and when I reminisce, I think music. During each chapter of my life, certain music plays a major role. I was remembering my early teenage years in Mykonos, listening to a lot of Motown, and Marvin Gaye in particular (because his CD seemed to be stuck in our car's CD player). At the time I wasn't thrilled about it but looking back it gave me a great fondness for the artist who left this world too early. 

A song that always grabs me is "Let's Get It On" (Marvin Gaye), partially because of the fact that it is a beautiful song and also because Jack Black did a great cover of it in the excellent film "High Fidelity". Any music lovers out there, who haven't seen that movie, watch it now! Anyways, let me get to Bryce Larsen. I found a video of him covering the song acoustically. He makes it look nice and easy, which is what everyone wants from an artist, right? Someone who makes the impossible look possible. Well, have a listen to this beautiful rendition of Marvin Gaye's classic!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvAplLY-bno

Fantastic, right? Bryce has the ability to take any song and make it his own. He seems to be the kind of guy who can cover a song and make it seem like he wrote it. That's the best kind of artist, by my standard. But, who am I to judge? All I can say, is I like what he's doing.

And I'm thrilled to say that he recently covered "Dead Flowers" (Rolling Stones). Probably one of my favourite Rolling Stones tracks, particularly when done live. And the fact that Bryce goes about doing it raw and stripped down, thrills me even more. I think Bryce did it just the way Keith would have liked it. On a random note, I see all these kids nowadays picking up electric guitars and such and all I can hear is Keith's sentiments echoing in my mind. How can you go about playing an electric guitar without having touched an acoustic guitar first? How can you play rock & roll without making amends with the blues? Well, I guess the world is changing but I'm glad there's guys like Bryce out there covering one of the best bands of all time. Check this raw rendition of the Stones' masterpiece!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHWZEW86fv8

Great stuff. According to Bryce's Facebook page (which you should have looked up by now), he's had three fully produced albums with past bands, as well as two solo releases. He's got big news and updates coming out all the time, so you could also check out his website:

http://www.brycelarsenmusic.com

He's got a couple originals you can listen to on youtube, including a stripped down, acoustic track called "Life Support", that I adore. It's got a great cross-genre sound, that's emphasised by the raw, acoustic sound of his guitar. I'm fairly certain he's using a Martin guitar, which is only fair to match his rich voice. Quite honestly, I could imagine this song being a fully fledged pop track, hard rock anthem, a summery ska/punk song or even the obvious indie rock track. That's the great thing about being an artist who's open to a variety of styles and can manage to pull them off. Bryce Larsen has the right guitar to do the job, and the right set of lungs too. He's one to watch out for. Listen to "Life Support" and support this tremendously talented artist now! Check back tomorrow for another fantastic artist.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6a1lqnAvno

Alex Hamel